Must have registrar features? (1.Viewing)

As we're in the early phases of a redesign of our domain management (and the client area as a whole), I'm curious:

1. What are must-have features for you?
2. Which features do you use the most?
3. Are there any features do you expect to be directly available from the domain overview page?

Thank you. This is really still more of brainstorming on our end and as you know, we need to cater to a variety of customers, so I won't promise you anything at this point.

1. Bulk Tools

2. Domain Forward


Without those two I cannot use a registrar


Bulk tools means that any change to a single domain can be made to a number of domains with a single click or two.

A select all feature would be great too.

Thanks for asking [notify]FM[/notify], you seem to be working very hard to make WHC a better place.

In no particular order...

* Minimalistic dashboard that is easy to get to (within a click or two from logging in)

* Dashboard should have basic info like Expiration date, Name Servers and checkboxes next to the domains that present more options when checked (like enable/disable auto-renew, bulk Nameserver change, etc)

* Simple Nameserver setup

* Simple DNS record setup (TXT, etc)

* Simple and free domain forwarding

* Auth Codes on demand

* Bulk tools

* Domains should be ready to manage as soon as they appear in our account without the need to activate any additional services

All of the above, plus the ability to easily push domains from one account to another.

Make it easy to set up:

URL forwarding
Changing nameservers
Locking the domain
Automatic retrieval of Auth Code
Renew the domain

MapleDots said:

Bulk tools means that any change to a single domain can be made to a number of domains with a single click or two.

Click to expand...

Do you need this for any type of change, or are there particular changes (i.e. Nameservers, contacts) where this is more useful? Do you work with a list of domains that you bring to the site or would you mostly select them in the registrar's interface?

FM said:

Do you need this for any type of change, or are there particular changes (i.e. Nameservers, contacts) where this is more useful? Do you work with a list of domains that you bring to the site or would you mostly select them in the registrar's interface?

Click to expand...

This is what I'd tell any/every registrar:

Before any bulk tool, allow a user to set default nameservers for new registrations (including TBR). That eliminates some regular need for the bulk tool right there.

When it comes to a bulk tool, being forced to select domains from a list is really unusable for large accounts, most of the time the domains are scattered and not even on the same page of results, so I don't even consider that kind of interface as a bulk tool.

A true bulk tool allows you to paste a list, then pick a parameter to modify, (i.e nameservers, contacts, renewals, autorenew on/off, lock/unlock, transfers in, authcode requests, etc), then be presented with the appropriate form to input your changes. There should be a confirmation page with the list of domains and changes to be applied, just so you can review before you commit.

And if you're going to do it, do it right, allow bulk changes on all parameters. Please don't pull any baloney like purposely not allowing a user to request auth codes in bulk or whatever. That won't stop me from transferring domains out, but it will make me not want to do business there. Just allow domainers to go about their business with the least amount of friction possible.

Yeah forwarding is just such a must. Being told you have to upgrade to a premium DNS service in order to forward a domain elsewhere is just ridiculous...

Easy auth codes are nice as well.

Groot said:

Yeah forwarding is just such a must. Being told you have to upgrade to a premium DNS service in order to forward a domain elsewhere is just ridiculous...

Click to expand...

This is already in the works and will be released before the new client area.

Nice, glad to hear!

Thank you all for the excellent feedback, please keep it coming or feel free to contact me directly with your suggestions.